Sailor Moon R - Apologies and Forgiveness
by SeerKing
Summary: Set after Sailor Moon R Episode 2. Usagi and the Senshi talk about the new enemy and the lingering aftereffects of the final battle with Beryl and Metaria.


**This is something I thought of when I re-watched the original Sailor Moon anime recently (in Sub, as the Dub just pisses me off). It adds on a bit to the scene at Rei's Shrine after Usagi awakens the rest of her Senshi during the second episode of Sailor Moon R. Let me know what you think.**

 **Just to give you a heads up, I'll be adding in a few twists to the bond that Usagi has with her Senshi.**

Tsukino Usagi, otherwise known as the Senshi of Love and Justice Sailor Moon, as well as Princess Serenity of the Silver Millennium, looked sadly at her friends as they talked about these new enemies that had appeared.

The enemies that she had been too weak to fight against, forcing Luna, her Moon Cat advisor, to awaken her friends to help her defeat the one that had been draining her of all her energy.

The blond-haired girl's sapphire blue eyes rested on one Mizuno Ami, or Sailor Mercury. The bluenette had been the first of her Senshi to gain her powers during the war with the Dark Kingdom. Intelligent beyond measure, with a core of steel, yet kind and lonely inside, she had been a comforting, reassuring presence at Usagi's side when facing the Yōma of the Dark Kingdom.

Next was Hino Rei, Sailor Mars. A practicing Miko who had a powerful sixth sense, even before her awakening as the Senshi of War and Passion, she used flames to attack her enemies. Somehow, the ravenette with piercing lilac eyes had become Usagi's best friend, something she had missed since her own awakening.

Kino Makoto was a tall girl with long light brown hair tied up in a ponytail. She was also Sailor Jupiter, the Senshi of Protection. She was a supremely skilled cook, a very talented martial artist and she mothered the rest of the team almost instinctively.

Finally, Aino Minako, who had once been Sailor V and had later revealed herself to be Sailor Venus, the Senshi of Love, could have been mistaken for Usagi's sister with her long blond hair and blue eyes. She was boy crazy and was greatly similar to Usagi in terms of personality. She was the leader of the Inner Planetary Senshi tasked with the protection of the Princess of the Moon Kingdom, one Tsukino Usagi.

And they had died in the course of that duty.

"Oi! Dumpling Head!" Rei barked at the twintailed blond impatiently, "You listening?"

"Eh?" Usagi said, her mouth on 'Haruna-sensei' autopilot.

"We were wondering how long you have had your memories, Usagi-chan." Ami informed her quietly, "Did you have them from the start or did someone attack you?"

"Ah…I…well…" the reincarnated Moon Princess stammered, "I-It was the day after that crater appeared. You were all there with me…"

"Yes, they were." Luna, her Moon Cat advisor agreed, "Artemis and I agreed that there was something off about that crater appearing out of nowhere, so we started to patrol the next night and discovered a monster of some sort attacking people and draining them of their energy."

"Was it similar to the thing that attacked us today or was it an Yōma?" Rei asked.

"It wasn't an Yōma." Artemis, Minako's advisor, stated with certainty, "It _was_ a dark being of some sort, but I have no clue what it was."

"Anyway, we discovered a girl who had been attacked and tracked it down in the middle of draining energy from Osaka Naru-san." Luna continued briskly, "Together, Artemis and I tried to handle it on our own, but it was too strong for us. Luckily, Usagi-chan had been on the phone to Naru-san when she was attacked, so came over in a rush to see what the problem was…even though she hadn't had her memories restored at that time."

"It was this…pink, green and lilac plant thing, with a flower instead of its right hand." Usagi whispered with a shudder, "All it said was 'Vampir' and was really creepy-looking. It caught me off guard, because I thought I was dreaming, and started to drain my energy."

Makoto's hands curled into fists at the thought of her friend having her energy drained like that. The other three Senshi also scowled.

"Artemis came to the rescue though and distracted it enough to break its grip on me." The blond smiled wanly at the white Moon Cat, "I don't think I said thanks, so thanks Artemis."

If he could have, the cat would have blushed. "It's our duty to protect you, Usagi-chan."

"Artemis drew the beast off while I was left with a choice." Luna said sombrely, "Either respect Usagi's wish to be a normal girl again and watch as this thing drained the life energy of the townspeople, or reawaken Usagi-chan's memories and hurt her in the process…I think you can guess as to my choice."

Usagi sighed melancholically, recalling that moment, when the memories of her battles with the Dark Kingdom came rushing back to her, along with the fear and pain that they had with them.

"Sailor Moon was reborn and defeated the creature with her _**Moon Tiara Action**_." Luna finished, "But we still have no clue as to what these Eiru and An people want with all of this life energy they seem to be gathering."

"And _why_ , pray tell, did you not revive our memories until danger was staring us in the face?" Minako asked coolly, no trace of the carefree girl she usually was present.

"I…" Usagi looked down before kneeling and entering into the dogeza, head and palms flat on the ground and words spilling from her lips, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!"

This had the Inner Senshi taken aback. Tears were falling from their Princess' eyes and a desperate pleading tone entered into her voice as she continued to apologise unabated.

"Usagi!" Rei was the first to break out of her stupor and knelt beside her friend, "Usagi, snap out of it! What are you apologising for? We're not _that_ mad that you took so long to return our memories!"

"Just so." Ami chipped in. She, Makoto and Minako knelt around the still pleading Usagi to offer her comfort, with Luna and Artemis watching on sadly from the side-lines. It took them all several long minutes to convince Usagi to speak.

"I…I…I _felt_ you all die!" she wailed, "Again! You all _died_ while I lived on because I was too weak and pathetic to defeat those Yōma! Just like during the final battle against Queen Beryl and Queen Metaria during the Silver Millennium! Only this time, I felt and saw how you all died! Then I had to fight Mamo-chan in front of Beryl and he died protecting me from her strike _again_!"

Anger and dismay was etched on the faces of the Senshi surrounding their Princess. Now that Luna had restored their past memories (well, the memories of when they had fought the Dark Kingdom and what few memories from their past life that they possessed), they all remembered the last stands they had fought against the DD Girls and were horrified that Usagi had been forced to watch and feel what they had gone through.

"Did…did you see everything?" Makoto asked as she laid a gentle hand on the pigtailed blonde's shoulder.

"Just…just fractured highlights." The girl sniffled, "And I think all I got pain-wise was a small portion of what you all felt. But it was horrible! And all my fault!"

"It was our choice, Usagi-chan." Minako reminded her gently, "As well as our duty. We exist for the sole sake of protecting you with our lives."

"If I was some kind of cold and heartless bitch, that would be alright!" Usagi snarled as she whipped her head up to glare at the leader of her Senshi, "But I'm not! I love you all! You're my precious _friends_! Having to watch and feel you all die is something that I _never_ want to have to see again! That's why-!"

She cut herself off and sat back on her butt, bringing her legs up so she could bury her head in them. Rei though, had guessed what she had been about to say.

"That's why you tried to fight the enemy yourself." She said softly, "That's why you refused to awaken us until there was literally no other option but to do that…because you were terrified of something like the Dark Kingdom happening again, of us sacrificing ourselves for you again. That's what it was, right?"

A sob from Usagi was all the confirmation that the Senshi needed. Ami felt sorrow that her friend, her _first_ friend, was so afraid of losing her that she had been willing to just be acquaintances with her in order to try and protect her. Makoto was touched by what Usagi had said about loving them. She had few friends thanks to her tomboyish nature, her martial arts skills and her unusual tall height, so one of them caring for her that much was an honour.

Rei was furious that her Princess, _her best friend_ , loath as she was to admit it, had tried to carry this burden on her own, had tried to protect her protectors when there was no need! Minako, thanks to her Venus-given love-specific empathic abilities, could literally _feel_ how much Usagi cared for them. The love was practically boiling out of her. It was touching, but she needed to step up as Inner Senshi leader.

"Usagi-chan, thank you for being so kind." She said softly, planting a kiss on the crown of her Princess' head, "It's why we served you so willingly back during the Silver Millennium and part of the reason we do so now. It doesn't just go one-way though; _we_ love _you_ as well. The thought of you being hurt or crippled or killed actually causes us pain, Usagi-chan. It _hurt_ to see you have your energy drained by that minor-thingy today."

"Minotaur." Ami corrected absently.

"Whatever. Point is, your feeling are appreciated, but you're stuck with us, Dumpling Head." Rei snorted, her harsh words belying the look of concern and warmth that she was shooting her Princess.

"We may have been Princess Serenity's Senshi back during the Silver Millennium, but we are yours now." Makoto said as she drew Usagi into a hug, "It wasn't destiny or fate or anything that _forced_ us into it; we _chose_ to be your Senshi in name and deed, just as we chose to sacrifice ourselves at the D-Point."

"Had we known that you would feel our pain, however, we would have done our best to avoid it." Ami added, "We were then, and are now, your Senshi. I was hollow when I didn't have my memories. I felt as if something was missing, like an important part of who I was had been taken from me. Now I have it back…my friendship with you and my fellow Senshi. I wouldn't give this up for anything, nor will I again."

"But-!" Usagi choked out, "But if something like the Dark Kingdom happens again…!"

"Then we'll become stronger." Minako said adamantly, "Now that we _know_ that our deaths can be sensed and felt by you, we'll avoid that. I'm certain Luna and Artemis have some ideas on how to get us stronger. We'll be fine, so please…don't lock us out, Usagi-chan."

Usagi clutched Makoto harder and started to cry again, this time in happiness. Her friends didn't hate her for being weak. They didn't resent her for being responsible for their deaths twice over. They even said that they loved her, despite the fact that she was so useless, filling her heart with happiness.

Over with the advisors, Artemis said to Luna, "I think they'll be fine."

"Mmm." The black Moon Cat nodded, "That they will be."

"Luna, Artemis." Ami said, her voice unusually stern, "Why is it that Usagi-chan felt our deaths as she did? You never mentioned the possibility or even that any such link existed between her and us."

The rest of the Senshi looked up at that, seeing Ami cross her arms over her chest and give the two cats a flinty look that brooked no protests.

"We were in cryogenic stasis for millennia, Ami-chan." Luna said wearily, "Our memories had and still have more holes in them than a sieve. Besides, it never happened during the assault by Metaria."

"That was because Queen Serenity usurped the Princess' link to her Senshi." Artemis interjected, "I just remembered that it was something the Moon Queens were able to do in times of war; usurp the bond between a Moon Princess and her Senshi, placing them under her own command. It was seldom used or known about due to the fact that the Silver Millennium hadn't been at war for centuries."

"And with no Queen Serenity to do that this time, Usagi-chan got the whole thing dumped on her out of nowhere!" Makoto realised, "Oh, if we had only known beforehand…!"

"We still would have done what we had to do, Mako-chan." Rei sighed unhappily, "It was the only way."

"It was, but not again." Minako said firmly, "Next time we face down the enemy's boss it their lair; we'll stay alive and win. No more hurting Usagi-chan."

"Agreed." Ami nodded, "Now let's get Usagi-chan off her knees; she must be getting sore, kneeling on those paving stones."

As Makoto and Rei gently lifted Usagi up and set her on her feet, the reincarnated Moon Princess felt that, despite the enemies lurking on the horizon and the fact that her Mamo-chan didn't know about her, things would be OK in the future.

As long as she had her friends standing beside her, things would be OK.


End file.
